MACAO, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- China's Macao Special Administrative Region saw a slight uptick in the unemployment rate for local residents during the June-August period, official statistics showed, as fresh graduates entered the labor market.
The local resident unemployment rate edged up 0.1 percentage point compared with the May-July period to 2.5 percent in June-August, while the local resident underemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage point to 2.0 percent, according to an official employment survey by Macao's Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).
Of the 7,500 unemployed local residents, most previously worked in gaming as well as wholesale and retail trade. New labor-market entrants hunting for their first job accounted for 18.9 percent of unemployed residents, up 6.7 percentage points, as recent graduates entered the workforce. Most of the 5,900 underemployed residents were engaged in business activities and construction.
Macao's general unemployment rate stood at 2.0 percent, a 0.1-percentage-point rise from the May-July period. The overall underemployment rate dropped 0.2 percentage point to 1.5 percent. ■
